monstermetal

Without a doubt that is the nicest anvil in that picture...

It does look like a 65lb Champion however I have never seen one with a clutch, all the ones I have seen state side are slack belt machines. I have owned two of these and can say without hesitation that they are a better machine than most in this size range. Condition is everything. It could be a bargin at $3000 USD and $500 USD could be too much (say if the frame had a major crack) If it is in top working condition I would pay top dollar If I was in need. You would be hard pressed to find a better hammer.

Thats pretty cool. I think having the anvil removable is a great thing for most folks so the hammer can be moved without heavy equipment.

We just finished a tire hammer build, There is nothing tricky about any of the fabrication or welding. I think all the tips presented above are great

One of my first boss's look at some of my MIG welds and I ask him what he thought. He said "nothing wrong with those that a thousand hours of practice wont fix"

Clever!

Brian I have lots of these and there is more too it than you think. There are two sizes of "small" guns the most common being the .401 shank. this is what the little body zip guns are. Most of these guns do not have much power or very good throttle control. To get into a real rivet gun you need to go to the .0498 shank. These are the "Aircraft" riveters and the length of the body corralates to the size. In the Chicago Pneumatic they are 2X, 3X and 4X with 4X being the most powerful. You can get these with a gooseneck handle or a pistol grip ( I really like the gooseneck) With one of these you can do up to maybe 1/4" in soft steel and 3/8" aluminum. From there you start getting into the "real" rivet guns. The next step is tools with a .998 shank which is obsolete then 1 1/16" bore is the next common one. This is the best all around small gun as you can do everything from about 3/16" to 3/8" steel and you can use if with custom tools for forming and forging. The CP-40 is really the one to get. You want to make sure if you seek one out that you find a Riveting hammer, not a Rivet buster. A rivet buster has no throttle control, they take the same tools but its on/off when you key the trigger. A rivet hammer has real nice range of throttle control. If you get up into the big tools like they use structural rivets for they use 1 3/16 shank tools, Just stay away from the chipping hammers (the .580 shank tools) and if you get a chance to run it feel what the throttle is like. If you are going to go look for one let me know. A friend of mine is the VP of the largest air tool company in the US and he gives me good deals on these things...

I have a Gladiator and the wide face is both good and bad. I wouldnt let loose of mine but I also feel I need to have a 150lb anvil with a narrow face next to it for operations better suited for it

Trust me, you dont have a problem, I hauled 10 ton to scrap and afterwords it looked excatly the same in the yard. I would just throw it on some dunnage so its off the ground, cover is good but unless your in a real damp area (like I am here in Seattle) many times its just as well to leave it uncovered

I am not currently a board member of the NWBA but I have been in the past and I can say that the registration fees, as high as they might seem, do not even cover the basic cost of putting on the event. A "normal" confrence (not the Western States big shindig) costs in the neighborhood of $12,000-$15,000 to put on. What we collect as registration has for the last few events covered 80-90% of costs but we still come up short and have to use other funds to make up the diffrence. We are a non profit group, we donate our time and effort to put on events like this for the blacksmith enthusiast. I would have to disagree that $8 an hour is too much to pay to watch and interact with some of the finest smiths in the world. This is not a trade show put on by big money, we are the group and unfortuantly it costs money to do these things.

Jim is a great guy and great blacksmith but there is nothing much to see really as far as building of the anvils goes. They are cast locally and Jim fettles each one by hand bringing them to life. But unless you like watching a guy run a grinder for hours its not much of a treat I reckon

Yep, not only is it possible its much simpler than welding any other way. There are size constraints depending on machine size. I weld bits in tomahawks in the induction forge and its painless and simple. The parts get hot so fast there is no time for scale to form (if you are on it) Grant used to do a demo where he would just stick two half inch round bars in the coil and when they got to temp just twist them together in a butt weld.

I would assume you are burning Acetylene, and yes its a bad idea. Not only would it be hugely expensive in the long run you will ruin the steel you hope to forge

Jet anvils have no face plate, they are a cast iron blob... And I have had chances to buy new surplus ones for less money than what that seller wants for a used one (and not bought them)

Yeah, it can be a challange if you dont have machinery to move things around and produce the parts. It is do able though. And I would think the chances of a class being out your way are a lot higher than the chances of another one out west.

A google search for Patterson #2 HT Flux comes up with zero matches?

Looks like a great score. I would suggest buying the LG rebuild DVD.. Taking the class would be great but that will provide you with enough info to do the job..

Its pretty minimal Dave, It comes with three coils and parts to make three custom coils. The nuts are a couple bucks each and you can use standard copper tube to make your own coils. I have bought used TIG coolers for as little as a $100, If you have to buy a new one the hard way plan on spending $600-$800 depending on brand and shipping. I like the Miller coolmate 4 as its a 4 gallon where most are 3. I also really like the Dynaflux units which is what I run on my big machine. There are some hoses and fittings you need to plumb the two units together and a power cord and plug but the cost is low for those parts. It takes about 3 weeks to get one, sometimes I have one in stock ( I just sold the last one I had at Daves Swap meet last weekend)

Thanks, I do think it will go faster in my shop than most simply because I have the space and industrial sized equipment to facilitate construction. Today was day one of construction of the demonstrator hammer and we got the links, toggles, ram, motor mount/brake and the frame built. We could have got more done but we are now to a point that we are waiting on parts to show up. Felt pretty good to get a such a big chunk done after Clay saying it would take a hundred hours to put together a hammer without the jigs.

I hope so, around 400 of these have been built in workshops on the east coast, it's about time the west caught up ;-)

Just as the title states we are planing to do a group build of tire hammers. We are shooting for the weekend after Thanksgiving but the date is not set in stone yet. Workshop cost will depend on the cost of materials We hope to get it down in the $1200 range but even with the minimum number of people (10) the cost will be no more than $1500. Workshop will be Friday-Monday, at the end of the workshop you will leave with a fully assembled hammer built with all brand new parts. There is a limit of 20 slots, we already have 5 deposits and only anounced the class a few days ago so I expect all 20 to be filled. $500 deposit will secure your slot in the workshop, the balance will be due at the start of the build when we have a finial cost on the build parts. Clay will not be attending as its just too far for him to drive out to Seattle and he does not fly but he will be shipping out all the jigs and fixtures for us to use during the workshop. We are scrambling right now to put together a demo hammer that will be donated to Western States for the Demonstrators to use, Anyone intersted can sign up at Western States for the workshop by finding me and paying the deposit. There will be play time for you to try out the hammer if your so enclined. You can email me @ Larry @ MonsterMetal dot Org or send me a PM here on I forge

I vote for Frostys answer. I have a one as well and I someday plan to try and lop off some rail with it. They scored all the way around and then dropped the rail on another peice and it broke at the score

Mike is that one of the hammers that John @ gearheart built?

I would have paid him so fast his head would be spinning....

This can be an issue in a press as well.... I have had the "flash" burn the skin off my arms when I trapped a bit of oil between a tool and the hot part in the big press..... the biggest explosion I had in the shop I am still not really sure how it happend. I poured some molten copper into the slack tub and it created a steam bomb somehow and more or less emptied out the 30 gallons in there.... But I have tried to recreate the explosion with no boom.... (Ok so I am a kid, it really was a big boom!)